Well, this has to be a record. I’ve gone over two weeks without writing on this blog and that can’t be good. For shame. I’d like to say there was a reason but there wasn’t. I just… didn’t want to write. I’d open up Microsoft Word and… nothing would come out. I would read old posts, try to learn from them, and then put off writing until the next day. Well, I’m sitting down and not getting up until I write all the posts I have swirling around in my head. So let’s get started with this one.
Property Alpha
Property Alpha is pretty quiet. Belle and Sebastian are doing fine, but the downstairs Indians need some work done. The oven igniter has gone bad, the same thing that happened to the upstairs apartment earlier this year. There’s also an outlet that needs to be replaced. My handyman Alfonso gave me the number of a guy he uses that can give me a good deal. Usually I trust Alfonso when it comes to these things, but I have my reservations. I’ll explain why later.
Property Beta
Carver had a problem with a blown fuse, but his electrician brother came over and fixed it. The new upstairs tenants, Danny the Kid and Scott, the upstairs tenants, hadn’t yet paid the $700 owed, so I took them to court yesterday. They paid me $200 and agreed to pay the remaining $535 by the end of Monday. If they don’t, I get to throw them out. After the case was over, I explained to them the consequences of an eviction on one’s record, and they seemed to understand. Scott made sure to take down my number, as I stressed the importance of keeping the lines of communication open. We’ll see how things go but… ugh! So much for that 8-day rent-out I was so proud of. I should have held out and waited for the right tenant. Not sure how many times I have to learn that lesson.
Property Chi
The roof of property Chi cost $700 to get fixed. I used a new roofer whose reference I got from a fellow landlord who works at the shipping depot. The roofer did a good job, but I’m having trouble getting an invoice and the pictures he took on his cellphone from him. I also wanted to get a quote for how much it would cost to do the entire roof, as that thing has about two years left before shit goes bad. Not sure why he’s avoiding my calls, but I’ll leave him alone for now. The next steps in the Chi Beautification Project is to buy a new screen door, pressure wash the exterior, paint the porch steps, and buy a compact stove. The stove in the downstairs apartment needs to be replaced, and there’s only room for a 24 inch stove. Compact stoves are very expensive, so I’m hoping to get lucky at a used appliance store. If I do find one, I can’t install it until I throw out the Africans. There’s no telling how badly they will screw that oven up like they did to the old one.
Property Charlie
Kylie Ray moved out on the 11th and the place was in decent condition. I brought Alfonso over to get an estimate on how much it would cost to paint 2 of the 4 rooms and replace both the kitchen and the bathroom sticky tile with new sticky tiles. He looked around and gave me a quote: $1500! I wanted to kill him. I bargained him down to $1350, and then told him we would talk the next day. I went home and read that post I did called Ego Incorporated. I remembered how important it was to be myself and use my ego in certain business situations. I knew he was trying to screw me with that $1350 price. I didn’t even need the entirety of the 2 rooms painted—just the white areas!
The next day I called him over and asked him to explain why it costs so much when you’re basically painting white over white and replacing cheap tile with better looking cheap tile. He tried to get the price down to $1000, at one point explaining that he’d have to do the trim as well. I saw him looking at me as he said this and he knew that I could see right through him. I knew he was bullshitting and he knew it too. We finally agreed that it should be $850 to do everything. I left there feeling good, but not good enough. So I called him up the following day. I told him that I had a roof job cost more than I thought, and asked how much it will be for him to just do the floors. He said $200. MUCH better. I told him that I’ll do the paint myself, and that was that. With any luck, the place should be in showing condition by today and I can start looking for tenants by the weekend. I picked today as the deadline because I thought I would have to throw out Danny the Kid and Scott.
I felt really good about how I handled the Alfonso situation. Usually I would have been comfortable paying the $850, but it didn’t seem right. I knew Alfonso was trying to screw with me and I had confidence in my convictions. I used my ego and it saved my dumb ass over $1000 for the property Charlie job. I’m also satisfied at how everything went at court today. I’m hoping that those idiots will get their acts together and I can really focus on getting Kylie Ray’s old apartment rented out. Once I paint and get rid the place of that hillbilly smell, I should be able to start renting out very soon.
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